


Those Women

by stella_pegasi



Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, SGA Saturday Prompt Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-09
Updated: 2011-10-09
Packaged: 2017-10-24 10:31:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/262478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stella_pegasi/pseuds/stella_pegasi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney learns that he doesn't know everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Women

**Author's Note:**

> **Rating:** Gen - PG  
>  **Character/Pairing:** John Sheppard, Rodney McKay  
>  **Word count:** 844  
>  **Disclaimer:** I do not own them, I would have treated them better.  
>  **Summary:** Rodney learns that he doesn't know everything.
> 
> Written for LiveJournal Community sga_Saturday 's Week 20 Prompt: Ada Lovelace Quote
> 
> This week is going to be crazy, so I had some time this evening, and wrote this. It's a bit of fluff, but hope it does honor not only to Ada Lovelace, but also to Admiral Grace Hopper that sharpes_hussy mentioned in her comment to the prompt thread.

 

 **THOSE WOMEN**

 _By stella_pegasi_

John Sheppard wanted some peace and quiet to finish the monthly reports. Woolsey had gently suggested that the military reports were overdue, and he expected them to be completed and in his hands by 1800 hours, today.

He retreated to his new office, still uncomfortable in the large chamber with its wide windows overlooking Atlantis. He preferred his old cubbyhole of an office where no one could find him, and if they did, there wasn't much room to sit. He kept finding his eyes drifting toward the horizon. It was a beautiful day, sunny, the water sparkling and his thoughts kept turning toward that little cove on the mainland where the water broke just right and made for some seriously good surfing. However, spinning his new 'executive' chair back toward the desk, he couldn't ignore the computer monitor any longer. He sighed; those reports were not going to fill out themselves.

Three hours later, he was over halfway through, silently cursing his decision approving Lorne's leave. The major didn't know it, but he might not ever let Lorne take leave again. He was flipping through the armament inventory, determining how much ammunition was used during the month when Dr. Rodney McKay barged in, without regard to Sheppard's closed, and he thought, locked door. McKay crossed the room and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs that sat in front of the large windows.

"Hello to you, Rodney." His only answer was a harrumph, and a frown.

"What, did someone take your last cup of coffee again?"

McKay was tapping on the arms of his chair. "No, I escaped my lab because those women are driving me crazy."

"Women?"

"Yes, women, those women scientists, all day they have been making demand, after demand, after demand."

"Rodney, there are women on this base demanding something from you?" Sheppard was perplexed and amused.

"I don't know who they think they are, but we can't stop the work we're doing here for every little whim they have."

Sheppard chuckled, "Rodney, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were being a misogynist. I really don't think that's somewhere you want to go."

"I am not a misogynist; I think women are more than capable of being scientists. I just don't like it when they gang up on me."

"Gang up on you? What the hell have you done to the women in the science department?"

"Nothing, I have done nothing. I just don't see the need for taking a day off to celebrate some woman they say invented the internet."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, they want to celebrate some woman who they think was the first computer programmer."

"Oh. Ada Lovelace."

Rodney's head snapped toward Sheppard, "How do you know that?

"Everyone knows who Ada Lovelace was."

"Well, enlighten me, flyboy," Rodney smirked and sat back in the chair, crossing his arms smugly.

"I'll give you the Cole's Notes version," silently laughing at McKay's reaction to his use of Cole's notes as a reference. "Ada Lovelace, the Countess of Lovelace actually, was called the "Enchantress of Numbers," a name given her by Charles Babbage. She was also the daughter of Lord Byron but never knew him. She lived in the 1800s and was fascinated by mathematics. She studied the sciences when women weren't supposed to do those things. Babbage invented what he called an "Analytical Engine," but his sponsors were withholding funding. An Italian mathematician, Louis Menebrea wrote a paper in support of it, and Babbage asked Lovelace to translate the paper. She did and added her own notes, which is what she became famous for, she wrote the first computer language in a sense. Babbage looked at his machine as a tabulating machine, but she thought there were broader applications. It wasn't until this century that her notes became reality."

"Seriously, that's who they're talking about?"

"Seriously, Rodney; now there is an Ada Lovelace Day to celebrate all women in science. You would be well served to make that happen here."

"I never knew that."

"See, you don't know everything. Ever heard of a woman by the name of Grace Hopper?"

"No, who's she?"

"Well, she was a Navy Rear Admiral and a computer programmer. She was instrumental in the development of COBOL language. You use the term "debugging?'" Rodney nodded, and Sheppard continued, "She's credited with coming up with that term. One of my Profs said she was often called 'Amazing Grace.'"

"Seriously?" Rodney looked a bit shell-shocked.

"Yes, seriously; I have a feeling that Admiral Hopper could have whipped your butt and written circles around you when it came to computer programming."

"I had no idea."

"If you are smart, you will make Ada Lovelace Day as big as Pi Day. If you know what's good for you. Now, get out of here; I have reports to finish."

McKay got up and as he was exiting Sheppard's office, he asked, "How the hell do you know all that?"

Sheppard's answer reached him as he stepped into the hallway, "Could've been Mensa."

 _The end…_

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: What amazing women, both Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper were; extremely impressive and, a century apart. Thanks for a fantastic prompt this week. Also, thanks to sharpes_hussy for the info about Admiral Hopper. She was a fascinating woman.
> 
> The Ada Lovelace quote used for the prompt: "I never am really satisfied that I understand anything; because, understand it well as I may, my comprehension can only be an infinitesimal fraction of all I want to understand about the many connections and relations which occur to me, how the matter in question was first thought of or arrived at, etc., etc."
> 
> The info I gathered about these remarkable women came from Wikipedia and the information on sga_Saturday prompt post.


End file.
